Rand Paul slams 'hypocrisy' of GOP on deficit hike

Sen. Rand Paul called out his fellow Republicans for "hypocrisy" in their budget plan after the GOP criticized Presid...

Posted: Feb. 8, 2018 5:52 PM

Updated: Feb. 9, 2018 7:21 AM

Sen. Rand Paul called out his fellow Republicans for "hypocrisy" in their budget plan after the GOP criticized President Barack Obama for adding to the US deficit during his time in office.

Scroll for more content...

"The other thing is there's a huge hypocrisy factor. Republicans lambasted President Obama to no end for trillion-dollar deficits and now they have put forward a trillion-dollar deficit," the Republican from Kentucky told CNN's Erin Burnett on Thursday night.

"I think the American people are going to be surprised, upset, hurt that so the so-called conservatives got elected and then turned out to be not much different than the people they were criticizing," Paul added.

Congress was set to vote Thursday night on a deal to fund the government. Paul spoke on the floor in the hours leading up to the deadline, voicing opposition to unnecessary government spending. The deadline for a government shutdown is at midnight, and the White House has told federal agencies to prepare for a government shutdown.

While speaking on CNN's "OutFront," Paul also defended his own vote on tax cuts that are projected to add to the national debt, saying that when he votes for tax cuts, he also always votes for a "corresponding cut in spending as well."

"I believe that when you go out and work, you sweat, you work with your hands, what you earn is yours. You give up small amount to be a part of a civilized society, but you shouldn't have to give up half of your paycheck," he said. "So I think we have to give up a lot of our liberty -- too much of it. So I think people should be able to retain liberty so that's why I'm for tax cuts. But there's also a big debate over what tax cuts will do to the economy."